Similar But Opposite
by Zephyrxlen
Summary: Sasuke and Naruto were always close...but how close? Here is what happened behind the scenes. -Sasuke's Side- SasuNaruSasu
1. Similar But Opposite

**A/N:** This will begin Sasuke's half of the story from his POV (Point of view). Naruto's half (Point of view) can be found in Opposite But Similar. While it's not required to read both (you can understand each story as it stands on its own) further explanation to Naruto's actions will be found in Opposite But Similar. Likewise, the explanations for Sasuke's actions will be found here in Similar But Opposite! Now, without further ado, enjoy!

* * *

_Similar But Opposite_

"Dammit." He crumpled up another paper, not bothering to toss it at the overflowing trash can and laid his head on the desk. He knew what he wanted to say, Uchiha Sasuke was never speechless. He just couldn't put the words down on paper. Sighing he pulled another piece of paper closer, and began again.

* * *

He stared at the paper. It had obviously been crumpled and abused even though it now rested in a perfect rectangle. He stared at it... because he didn't want to open it. He didn't want to see the words written on paper. He didn't want to read the words that would shatter and burn what was left of his heart.

He closed his eyes, and decided there was nothing left to shatter, nothing left to shatter, because it was no longer there. Sasuke had it. And he always would. And so he began to read.

_Dear dobe,_

_I won't say 'if you're reading this that means I've left', because that's how these always start, ne?_

As Naruto read these words, it was as if the old Sasuke was bleeding through, and he quickly read on to the next lines, oblivious at the moment to the ink splotch at the bottom of the paper, nearly covering three words.

_I probably shouldn't say this, because I know it will give you false hope. But I know what you want, and I've thought about what I really feel, and what I really want. So maybe this hope won't be so false._

_I'm sorry dobe. I'm sorry for hurting you, and I'm sorry for leaving you. But this is something I have to do, and something I have to do by myself. And I'm not sorry for that. I don't expect you to forgive me, and I know I deserve any hatred you give me._

_You mean more to me than words can describe. You taught me that if there's someone who can leave and cause scars on my impure heart, there's also someone who can heal them. You're that someone, dobe._

_But right now these scars need to stay fresh. Right now, I need to finish what he started. I need to destroy him. And you don't have to understand. Just trust me, please._

_And I do... have one favor. I know I have no right to ask this of you... but I need to. Please, please, don't stop smiling. Don't lose that light that made me love you in the first place. Keep smiling, for me. And if you can't smile for me... then smile for the others. Don't lose your light._

_I love you_

_Sasuke_


	2. Thoughts of an Avenger

_Thoughts of an Avenger_

Sasuke used to love the sky. When his brother had time, he would tell him stories of fantastic worlds that belonged to the blue abyss. So for minutes, for hours at a time he would stare at the sky, trying to discern the worlds from the sea above his head. Sometimes he reached up his hand to grab at those worlds, only to bring his fist back full of air.

His mother found it adorable, and his brother, his _perfect_ brother would tell him more stories of those far away worlds. His father had the police headquarters, his brother had his ANBU status, and his mother had a family. Sasuke? He had the sky, and he loved it that way.

Or he used to love it.

* * *

It started off as per usual in Sasuke's life - blocking back memories of when he would grab his obento from his mom and remind her that it wasn't practice, it was training - but that was also the day he was assigned to be on a team with an obnoxious fangirl, and a hyperactive ball of sunshine. If someone had told him then that he would discard his feelings for his teammates as if they were a hot pan he had neglected to grab by the handle, he might have laughed, or merely stared at them as if they were insane. But that was his destiny.

* * *

People had always expected a lot from him, being an Uchiha. His teachers, his family, and his father, when he at last acknowledged him, all expected nothing less than excellence.

But then, there was someone who expected nothing like excellence, someone who merely expected Sasuke to just be Sasuke. By then however, it had been drilled into his head to be nothing less than perfect.

That day was his first at the academy, and as he stood in rows with the other soon to be students, he thanked his brother for talking his father into seeing him into the academy. Now, he thought, now his father would acknowledge him. It had never been part of his plans to make friends.

So while his head was full of his dreams and aspirations, the thought of friends stayed securely out of reach, and he had no idea what was missing. Little did he know his life was soon to change forever.

Maybe if he had known, he would have sunk down into the sea of blankets on his bed and ignored the world.

Maybe he would have done everything differently.

* * *

When he had arrived for his first day of training, it had been with his brother, and although things had seemed strained between Itachi and their father, although Itachi seemed to be acting oddly, he brushed it off. After all, his seven year old mind wouldn't comprehend everything until much later.

So when his brother playfully shoved him, causing him to fall into a fellow student, he reacted naturally, shouting out, "I'm gonna kill you, nii-san!"

His older brother smirked and turned away to leave, a steaming Sasuke glaring at his retreating back.

Little did anybody present there at the academy know the truth of those words as they continued, the parents and teachers laughing at the small quarrel.

Since Sasuke couldn't direct his rage at his brother like he wanted to, he instead turned on the person he had bumped into.

"And next time, watch where you're going!"

Then blond he had knocked over jumped to his feet, words flowing out of his mouth.

"No, you watch it! I wasn't the one being pushed!" The blond glared, and Sasuke glared back. But then, his angry seven year old face took in the color of the blonde's eyes, and he looked at the sky, then back down, then up at the sky, and then back down one last time. And he realized that those eyes were the color of the sky, the sky that held endless worlds inside it.

So instead of shouting back, he said, "I'm Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke."

And because he knew the reaction people had when he said his last name, or when they recognized him, he smirked smugly and crossed his arms, waiting for the familiar and predictable recognition. So when the blond didn't show any form of recognition it caught the Uchiha off guard.

"So? My name's Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto! And you better not forget it!"

Sasuke was unable to keep the surprise off his face, untrained in the art of concealing his emotions.

"You don't know who I am?"

The blond imitated how the Uchiha had crossed his arms before replying, "Nope!"

It took Sasuke a moment to process that no, Naruto didn't know who he was and thus didn't expect perfection or kissed the ground he walked on. And the raven found that surprisingly refreshing.

"Do you want to play with me?"

He watched as the blonde's eyes widened before he gave a grin so big, Sasuke wondered how the bottom half of his face stayed connected to the rest.

"Sure!"

And they lost themselves while they pretended to be the greatest ninja the world has ever known. When others tried to join, Sasuke would send them away with a dark and icy glare, not quite understanding why he wanted his new best friend all to himself. The blond would complain, but Sasuke would just ignore him, the feeling of wanting Naruto to himself never dissipating.

Neither expected how short-lived their friendship was to be. Fate was just that cruel.

* * *

It was a sunny day as Sasuke sat on the shore, soaking wet after attacking his brother's reflection in the water. He should have been at school, but he couldn't face all those people. He wouldn't face all those people. He preferred to sit on the shore, cursing his brother, cursing the sun, but most of all he cursed himself.

Why couldn't he have gotten there even five minutes earlier? Why couldn't he _do anything_? Why could he only stare in horror at his parents bodies? Why could he only run and beg for his life?

He dug his tiny fingers into the mud of the shore, willing his brother's reflection off the surface of the water, willing his brother to die, willing time to turn back to when everything had been... _perfect_.

Conversations between the nurses as they stood outside the door of his hospital room played through his head like a cd on repeat. It was _his_ fault, they said. _He_ had cursed the Uchihas. _He_ was a monster.

The anger wracked his body, causing his wet form to shake with fury and agony. It was _his_ fault.

"Sasuke? Are you ok-"

"Go away," the raven seethed, his fingers pulling up dirt.

"No." Unable to contain himself the Uchiha stood up and whirled around.

"I said GO AWAY!" The blond took a step back, Sasuke observed with a furious satisfaction.

"I ONLY CAME HERE TO HELP YOU!"

"WELL I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" Sasuke glared kunai at the blond, kunai laced with poison. He _hated_ the boy standing in front of him.

"WHY NOT?!" It was a shouting contest now, but Sasuke had no sane words left. And then... something inside him snapped, and he exploded entirely.

As his fist connected with his once best friend's face he once again felt that furious satisfaction, and the fury became blinding.

"I don't need help from a monster." He said lowly, almost under his breath. He watched as those sky blue eyes widened, and then collapsed in on themselves, those worlds the Uchiha believed to be there crumbling and burning. He would never be able to stare at the sky again.

"Y-you-"

He felt the need to finish the job, as tears threatened to spill over from those sky blue eyes.

"I overheard the nurses at the hospital. They say everything, because I've hung out with you and you cursed me - it's all your fault!"

He watched as Naruto shook his head, his anger receding again behind closed bars. He could feel regret creeping in, so he said the words that would keep the blond away for good.

"I hate you."

And Uchiha Sasuke walked away, hating himself more than anything.

Over time... he would get used to the feeling.


	3. His Best Apology

_His Best Apology_

The blond loathed him. Sasuke could tell.

Sasuke could feel the intensity of that loathing, even with the blond halfway across the room. And he knew he deserved it. He hated himself too.

Sasuke knew he was stupid and selfish, no matter what kind of icy exterior he exuded. He was stupid, he was selfish, he was _pathetic_. All these things he knew, and yet still he continued on. Maybe he hoped he could drop his pride and apologize to the blond. Maybe he hoped the blond would forgive him.

He wanted things back to how they _used to be_.

And yet he knew this would never happen. So he drowned himself with thoughts of revenge, strangled himself with training. He knew he didn't hate Naruto. He knew the moment those words left his lips that they were a lie.

So why had he said them? He didn't know anymore.

He didn't know anything anymore. He didn't know why he continued on, didn't know why he constantly found himself staring at the blond he _knew_ hated him. For once the Uchiha was clueless, and that was what he hated, not Naruto.

So when he found himself on the same team as the hyperactive blond, he thought that maybe this would be his chance to apologize to the blond. Maybe they could start over. But these thoughts were crushed when the blond protested at the team arrangement loudly and vehemently.

The blond _hated_ him.

* * *

As Sasuke stood there with Naruto and Sakura in the brightening daylight, he couldn't stop himself from peeking at the blond out of the corner of his eyes every so often. He had skipped breakfast like Kakashi had told them to, and as the minutes passed, he began to regret it. Once again looking out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Naruto yawned, and slumped gracelessly to the ground.

Sasuke smirked, finding he was incapable of truly smiling. A smirk was the best he could do to show his amusement at his best friend turned rival turned teammate's antics.

Naruto glared at Sasuke as he heaved himself back up, seeming to find a challenge in Sasuke's dark eyes. Sasuke watched as Naruto's eyes darted towards Sakura, and he felt a twinge of some unnamable emotion around his heart.

They both stood there for a moment, Sasuke finally having dragged his eyes away from Naruto as he stared at a nearby tree. Sasuke was about to snap, explode, or maybe both at the same time when a noise caught his attention. Sasuke couldn't help but snicker as Naruto's stomach gave an audible growl.

"Eh-YOU SHADDUP!" Smirk still in place, Sasuke wondered what to do, now that the blond was voluntarily giving Sasuke his attention again. So he reacted the only way he knew how.

"You're pathetic." Sure, it was bastard behavior... But it was all he knew.

"Yeah, WELL AT LEAST I HAVE THINGS THAT I BROUGHT JUST IN CASE!" Sasuke looked at the blond curiously as Naruto whipped out an obento. Sasuke's hand subconsciously lifted to rest on his angering stomach.

"Yatta! I knew this would come in handy!" The dobe began to wave it in front of Sasuke's face, and Sasuke felt his eye twitch before glaring kunai at the blond.

"Shhh! Do you want her to wake up?" He hissed. Truly, it didn't matter to him if she woke up or not, although it was nice to be free of her fangirl conduct. He knew he'd be seeing a lot more of that soon.

"So what if she does?" Naruto shot back. Sasuke paused. Didn't Naruto have a crush on Sakura? Wouldn't he care if she was woken up? Wondering over his best friend turned rival turned teammate's response, he turned away and sniffed.

He could hear as Naruto began to unwrap his obento, and the Uchiha clutched his stomach to fight back a growl. The blond tore more of the wrapping away from his obento and Sasuke finally turned around to grace him with a bastardly reply.

"So you don't care if you get sick and throw up later today? You really are an idiot."

"Why do you care?" Sasuke froze for a moment - why did he care? Angry at himself for not having an answer, he glared at Naruto as the blond hovered over his obento. Sasuke looked away and heard the snap of chopsticks. Holding his hand over his stomach he tried to stifle the growl, but to no avail.

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the stupid grin on Naruto's face, the triumphant gleam in his eyes. Naruto opened his mouth, presumably to tease the raven. But the comment Sasuke had been expecting never came. One moment, the blond was sitting there, sky blue eyes in a far away place. The next moment an obento was shoved into his face. Unable to control his surprise he opened his mouth.

"Wha-"

"I owed you." The blond said grudgingly. He shoved the obento into the Uchiha's hands and walked away as the realization began to form on Sasuke's features.

_"Wow Sasuke, that sure looks good!" A seven year old Naruto, one who didn't hate Sasuke exclaimed, his eyes trained on Sasuke's homemade lunch._

_"Yeah, mom made it for me," Sasuke replied proudly, a real smile upon his features. But upon surveying the empty table in front of his blond friend his smile dropped._

_"Where's your lunch?" The raven asked concerned. Naruto's gaze was on the table in front of them as he replied._

_"I... don't have a mom to make it for me..." Of course, being seven and having had a mother his whole life, the spoiled Uchiha didn't quite understand. So he asked the obvious question with seven year old innocence._

_"Why?"_

_"I... don't know... I don't have a dad either." The Uchiha was still confused. No mother or father? He couldn't imagine what that must be like._

_"So that's why you never bring lunch?" Sasuke asked sadly. His eyes met sky blue and he tried, as he often did, to see the worlds his brother told him lay in the sky._

_"Umm... yeah..." Horrified at this the raven came to a quick decision._

_"Well then you can have mine."_

_"No-it's yours. Your mom made it especially for-"_

_"No." Sasuke couldn't sit there and eat his own lunch when he knew the blond had nobody to make one for him. That would be unfair and cruel. What kind of friend would he be then?_

_"You eat it. You can just owe me later." Of course, the blond didn't really owe him. Sasuke just said that to placate the blond. Even so... later never came.

* * *

_

Later that day, Sasuke was sitting on the grass, disgruntled, angry, and once again peering out of the corner of his eyes at the blond who was the only one of the three tied to a post.

He looked away, fully prepared to dig into the lunch in front of him, to satiate the gnawing at the corner of his stomach so he might be able to take a bell from their sensei. But what he heard stopped him dead. It was the sound of a loudly growling stomach, and he recalled the events from earlier that day. It would be _very_ bastardly to just eat his lunch as Naruto suffered. So he sat there, chopsticks poised in his hands, two sides of him arguing.

Finally one side won out, and he thrust the obento towards his best friend turned rival turned teammate, forgetting for the moment that Naruto wouldn't be able to take it or feed himself. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Naruto's eyes widen noticeably.

"Here." As Naruto stuttered, he used that to hide his next four words from the pink haired girl five feet away.

"You never owed me." There. For now that was the best apology he could muster. Maybe later he could offer a true apology with his whole heart.

But for right now... this was enough.


	4. The Melancholy of Demons

_The Melancholy of Demons_

"What's Kakashi's problem? Giving him and Sakura the job of finding the missing kids while we have to watch the rest of the academy midgets!"

They were all demons, Sasuke decided, sitting safely out of reach of the children - who were torturing a poor ice cream man - as he tried to decipher the purpose of this mission. The most demonic of all however, was the jonin who had been late, and then left the raven and the blond with the task of... _babysitting_.

The Uchiha cringed inwardly - babysitting was not something he neither wanted nor would ever want to do. Naruto looked as though he found the thought of Sasuke babysitting hysterical and he snickered under his breath. Annoyed, the raven opened his mouth before freezing. One of the demons had broken away from the rest, and now her solemn green gaze was fixed upon Sasuke.

...Hell.

"Uhh... Can... can I have... some i-ice cream?"

Even if her stuttering hadn't irritated the Uchiha to no end, her constant fidgeting and the way she poked her fingers together would have. There was a look in the blonde's sky blue eyes that told the Uchiha that Naruto found the little girl to be utterly adorable. And for some reason, that made Sasuke mad.

"Sure you can! Anyone can if they brought the money!"

The girl looked crushed and Sasuke surveyed the scene, relaxing a little when he was sure he was safe from the conversation.

"But... but... I... don't have any... money." And she cast a pleading look at the last Uchiha in Konoha.

"Can I... pwease... have... some... money... mister?" The way she paused in between every word had the Uchiha wishing he could turn around, walk out, and never look back. Sasuke's eye twitched as his blond best friend turned rival turned teammate kneeled down next to the other blond and stuck out his lower lip in a pout.

"Yah Sasuke, pwease?" Naruto imitated Blond Lisp Girl. Sasuke pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow at his teammate. Surely his answer was obvious.

"No." Naruto's lower lip jutted out further, and his eyes widened imploringly.

"Pleeeeeease, Sasuke rich-pants?" The raven's eye twitched again, but he fought down a smirk. Rich-pants?

"Don't be a teme for once-OH!" Sasuke couldn't help but smirk as the girl looked at Naruto questioningly and the dobe tried to explain what bastard meant, while also trying to explain how it was a 'bad word' and how she shouldn't _ever_ say it.

Suddenly the blond was on his feet again, his nose not even an inch away from the raven's. For a moment the Uchiha didn't breathe, worried the slightest movement would put his skin in contact with the dobe's and completely shatter his bubble.

"Now you have to give me the money in compensation for me." Sasuke raised an eyebrow again to hide his discomfort, clenching his twitching hand and gave a predictably bastardly answer.

"And what makes you think I care about your compensation?"

"TEME!" Sasuke's smirk grew. One could almost call it an evil grin. Fine. He would give the dobe the money. But only if...

"Fine." He said, but before Naruto could celebrate his would be victory, the raven continued.

"But only... if you watch over the midgets for the rest of the hour we have."

Naruto's tan face visibly paled. Sasuke crossed his arms and continued smirking as he followed the blonde's gaze over the where a boy had yanked a girl's pigtails, and was now having his head squished violently into the muddy earth.

"Ummm... I don't think that-" Along with a smirk Sasuke now had an eyebrow cocked yet again.

"Don't tell me you don't think you can handle it, dobe." And there it was, the pissed off reaction the raven got a sadistic pleasure from. He couldn't explain why he loved the blonde's reaction so much, he just did. So caught up was he in his teammate's reaction that he almost didn't notice when the kids around them formed a large gawking group, the ice cream man having escaped and leaving the two genin at the mercy of said kids.

"TEME, IF YOU CALL ME THAT ONE MORE TIME, I WILL KILL YOU-"

The faces of the academy students were filled with Os - wide eyes and open mouths... Like fish. It was dead quiet for a moment until -

"I mean... I will... umm... FINE! GIVE ME THE MONEY!"

Not bothering to point out that since the ice cream man was gone, the only reason the Uchiha would give him money was so that he could ditch the dobe, the raven whipped out his wallet, glaring at the one kid who foolishly got too close. The blond sighed and shook his head. Sasuke took the opportunity to slip his wallet back into his pocket, the children having already forgotten about ice cream in the aftermath of Naruto's outburst.

"Sasuke-tem - I mean san - stop scaring the kiddies."

Kiddies? Really, sometimes the blond was such a dobe.

"They're annoying." Sasuke scowled, hyper aware of the kids watching them as if they were a highly interesting TV show.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I am stating the facts. They are annoying."

"But they're so cute," the blond contradicted enthusiastically. Sasuke's eye twitched and Naruto grinned at this. The Uchiha felt the need to continue their nothing fight, and he wanted to win. Uchiha Sasuke never lost.

"No they're not," he insisted, crossing his arms impatiently.

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?" Sasuke had the urge to slap his palm against his forehead as the blond gave an exaggerated gasp and seized the nearest child, holding him up near Sasuke's face. It was Pig Tail Puller Boy. The boy gave Sasuke a big, gap-toothed grin. Sasuke had to fight the urge to whack the child away and flinched on the inside.

"Isn't he cute, Sasuke?!" Sasuke glared at the blond, wanting nothing more than for Pig Tail Puller Boy to be pulled away from his face.

"No."

Naruto put Pig Tail Puller Boy down, which Sasuke silently thanked him for, and then the blond had invaded the raven's bubble again, and Sasuke's hand trembled. Sky blue eyes met storm cloud black, and Sasuke found himself reflexively searching for those worlds his seven year old self had believed in.

"Give me the money then. And don't care about the kids. You are a cruel and cold hearted man, you know that? You'd probably leave the poor things out in the cold you tem- ah - evil person." As the midgets remained at an uncomfortably close distance Sasuke knew that he would do exactly that.

"I would-"

But before he could defend himself, a small voice interrupted.

"Umm, excuse me... mwisters?" It was Blond Lisp Girl. And for once he was thankful to the demon horde as Naruto retreated from his bubble to turn to Blond Lisp Girl.

"What is it sweetie?" Sweet? These monsters? The Uchiha almost gagged.

"Umm... Are you two marrwied like Mommy and Daddy were? Because you argue just like they did..." Sasuke's eyes widened, and he once again despised the demon horde.

"Or just like Iruka-sensei and that weird white-haired sensei do," another of the demons put in. The look of utter shock on the mostly expressionless Uchiha's face stopped Blond Lisp Girl from continuing however.

"Well, umm, no, we're not... because... uhh... because-"

"Because we're too young to marry," Sasuke mumbled, hoping that now Blond Lisp Girl would just drop it. She had dug up memories from the once happy raven's past.

_"Hey, Naruto?"_

_"Yeah, Sasu-kun?"_

_A seven year old Sasuke rolled his eyes at the nickname, smiling slightly as he pushed the swing Naruto was sitting on back and forth. Sure it was annoying when his fangirls called him that, but he didn't mind so much when it came from Naruto's mouth._

_"Are you gonna get married?"_

_The blond turned around halfway as Sasuke's palms connected gently with his back and pushed him forward again. Those blue eyes that Sasuke searched for skies were widened marginally._

_"I think so... Why?" Sasuke somewhat ignored this question._

_"Who are you going to get married to?" He asked it completely seriously, hoping that his best friend wouldn't have an answer for that question. He didn't know why, but he knew he didn't want Naruto to marry anybody._

_"Umm... I dunno..." But then the blonde's face brightened immensely._

_"No, I _do_ know." The Uchiha felt his stomach clench, and he pushed the swing forward with a little more force than necessary._

_"I'll get married to you, Sasu-kun!" The raven's eyes widened noticeably before he graced the blond with a rare, true smile, something he only ever offered to his blond best friend._

_But he had to make sure._

_"Really?"_

_"Yah, why not?!"_

_"Umm... I don't know... because..." Sasuke's arms hung at his sides as he thought, the swing slowly coming to a stop. The blond jumped off the swing and faced Sasuke with hurt, accusing sky blue eyes._

_"What? Is... there something wrong... with me-" Sasuke's own eyes widened before he cut off the blond._

_"No, no, there's nothing wrong with you! You're pretty!" It had meant to be consoling, but at that moment the Uchiha realized it was true. His sky blue eyes were pretty, his smooth tan skin was pretty, and his blond sunshine head was pretty._

_The blond snorted._

_"Am not! I'm handsome!" Sasuke smirked - that worked as well._

_"Whatever... but..."_

_"But what, Sasu-kun?"_

_"Shouldn't I ask you like I'm supposed to?" Granted the seven year old didn't know much of it, but he knew enough from his mother's stories of how his father had proposed. So the raven grabbed Naruto's tan hand, liking the warmth of it._

_"Naruto, will you marry me?" The blonde's smile nearly split his face._

_"Sure!" Was the ecstatic answer._

_And the two had a new game, which they spent the rest of the day playing, deciding what their home would look like, and arguing about if their couch would be orange or not. The blond desperately wanted it to be orange, but Sasuke opposed that idea..._

_The game was forgotten the next day._

"Nonsense! You're never too woung to marry!" How Sasuke hated that lisp, and the innocence that led the girl to believe that he and Naruto could be married. He glared as the demon horde nodded in unison. _Demons_!

"Ummm... Yes, you can be... what was your name again?"

"Hyou," Blond Lisp Girl replied.

"Well then... umm... Hyou, actually, you can be too young to marry bec-because, well..." Sasuke wished frantically for something, _anything_ to save them from this demon horde.

"I'm married to Miak," Hyou proclaimed, holding up her left hand where a silver ring resided on the correct finger. Having the state of mind of a twelve year old, Sasuke couldn't understand what made kids actually pretend to be married to each other.

"Yatta, that's me!" A boy shouted proudly, and Sasuke wished he could just lock them all up and be done with them.

"Oh... umm... Well then..." How articulate, Sasuke thought, seething.

"Don't worry mwisters - we'll all marry you!"

"I don't think so-" Sasuke cut in before the midgets took a menacing step forward. He glared at them, warning them with his eyes to keep away, but they were about as perceptive as Sakura when it came to his 'Stay away from me' vibes.

"Well... ah... anno... if you reeeeally want to... which you don't have to because-" But the demons could not be dissuaded.

"Don't worry mwister! I'll be your bridesmaid!" Under any other circumstances Sasuke would have smirked at Naruto having a _bridesmaid_. The girls of the swarm giggled and a few more volunteered. He glared at the blonde's back; another midget was getting _way_ too close.

As the blond was being dragged away, Sasuke hissed into his ear.

"And _you_ wanted to buy them ice cream."

It was almost as if the blond didn't hear him as he began to shout.

"HEY, WAIT A MINUTE, HOW COME I HAVE BRIDESMAIDS, I'M NOT A BRIDE!" The girls continued to giggle, and Sasuke snickered. Served the dobe right for getting them into this mess in the first place.

* * *

Sasuke scowled. It was two hours later, and he and Naruto were a 'happily' _married couple_.

There was only one other person Sasuke had wanted to kill this much.

He didn't know what he would have done if he and the dobe had actually been required to _kiss_. He probably would have grabbed the nearest brat and started throttling them. But since the demons still considered that gross, the two hadn't had to kiss.

Instead, they had been told to kiss each other on the cheek, and Sasuke prayed more than ever before that nobody happened to see them. All through the 'vows' Sasuke's eyes had been darting around the deserted academy playground. The blonde's fists had been clenched the whole time.

"You may kiss." Sasuke added those words to the lengthy list of things he hated. A few more things that had joined it on that long tedious day were the members of this demon horde.

"Come on, kiss, kiss, kiss!" The little kids were chanting. Sasuke rolled his eyes angrily, and resolved to finish this as soon as possible. Hands in his pockets, he leaned forward and brushed his lips against Naruto's warm, tan cheek, lingering perhaps a moment longer than necessary before pulling back.

Naruto leaned forward to return the gesture under the watchful eye of the demon horde, his slightly chapped lips meeting Sasuke's cheek almost shyly. Sasuke pulled away quickly then, the blonde's lips having left a white hot burning on his pale cheek.

"This never happened. Understand?" The Uchiha said in a threatening tone, trying to hide the face that Naruto's touch had affected him so much.

"Yes mister..." The terrified kids replied in unison, and Sasuke relaxed.

At that moment Iruka, Kakashi, and Sakura returned. Sasuke thanked every deity he knew that they hadn't appeared mere moments earlier.

"Wow Sasuke and Naruto, you guys did a really good job taking care of them." Of course Iruka meant the kids' silence - they were still terrified of the Uchiha.

"Midgets are annoying," Kakashi stated boredly, lifting up his leg and shaking off three small bodies - the bodies of the three missing children. Iruka fixed Kakashi with a chiding look, which the silver haired jonin ignored. Sasuke gave Naruto an 'I told you so' look.

And then Hyou jumped into the conversation.

"Iwuka-sensei?"

Iruka turned to the girl, crouched to her level and smiled.

"What is it sweetie?" Sasuke's eyes moved from the blond to the brunette and back. He still couldn't find anything sweet about even one child from the demon horde.

"What's a teme?"

Sasuke smirked and snickered under his breath as Naruto, Iruka and Sakura froze.

"NARUTO!"

Luckily for Sasuke, they never had a babysitting assignment after that, although his cheek still burned whenever his eyes connected with Naruto's sky blue eyes.


End file.
